Newcastle United Taking on Europe – A Football Manager 24 Story, Part 1 Life After Howe

Newcastle United Taking on Europe – A Football Manager 24 Story. Join us as we look to continue on from where Eddie Howe left off and challenge Europe's elite. But can we hold our own, while managing a small squad and a tough domestic fixture list?

I want to get straight into the meat of this series, but I'll go over some “ground rules” in Part 1 and then we'll leave it at that. After, we'll jump straight into the story and get to work at making Newcastle United one of the best teams in the world.

FM 24 Stories Part 2 

FM 24 Stories Part 3

FM 24 Stories Part 4

FM 24 Stories Part 5 (Season 1 end)

Check out our Winter Update Everton save.

Football Manager 24 Story – The Rules and Settings

• No mods, no add-ons, just the raw, early access release of the game
• No use of the editor (it's not out anyway and we disabled the temptation)
• No save scum. We roll with the punches here
• We are starting on the “original” transfer setting, so all 23/24 transfers are done. But we have enabled the transfer window
• All top 5 European leagues are loaded, alongside Brazil, Scotland, and Portugal
• We are running a medium size database
• No set timeline for future parts, but the first 5 or so will probably come fairly quickly
• The idea is to take roughly 10 game time jumps, with extra stops during the transfer window or key moments

David Holly Signs for Newcastle United

There's an air of disbelief among fans, media, and frankly, football as I accept this job. You can feel it in the air, and you can definitely see it on Twitter. But I knew it would be hard to follow Eddie Howe, and while his resignation was simply put down to a “simple difference of ideas”, but I can only deal with the hand I've been dealt. The board have given me the freedom the bring in my own people and make any changes, Howe had a certain tacktile style, and it will be down to me and my team to implement our own style.

Before we can progress forward, we need to know what the board want from us first. So, let's take a look at what they have for us.

These seem fair goals. Developing our youth will be key to our long-term future, and with Dan Ashworth by my side, we can do anything. Growing the club, our revenue all while working within the budget is manageable, especially if we can make Europe work for us.

Speaking of Europe, “be competitive”, it's vague, but, it's something to work with. Keep our chins up, work hard, and make the most of that Group of Death we've been dealt. The hard part is going to be getting back into the Champions League again, a tall ask given the squad we have right now, so a lot of work to be done. The FA Cup and Carabao might need to be put on the backburner for this season.

The Tactic

I'm a pretty simple man when it comes to management, I find a style I like and I stick to it. We can make changes on the fly, but we start every game our way.

We've inherited an Eddie Howe team, but there's an evolution we can do here. One change is we'll look to utilise the “10” role a lot more, pushing up an attacker to sit somewhere behind the striker. We have option as things stand, we could push Gordon into the middle, or maybe drop Isak back. The latter option would, however, require us to dip into the very expensive striker market. For midfield, it's pretty simple, two men to cover the space, one specialising in winning the ball, the other in distribution. With Tripper on our right side and Livermento behind him, we have to let them push forward, so the Inverted Winger gives us that ability.

Our left full-back is our weakest link, and while Howe made good use of Dan Burn, we might require too much of him for this role. The final issue might be Nick Pope, while a fantastic shot-stopper, his distribution, well, his kicker, has always been a weakness. For now, we'll make sure he's rolling the ball out, and we'll build slowly. We have a lot of options in the GK department behind, an area we could look to help free up some cash.

The squad

It's a really weird bunch at Newcastle. From the remains of what Mike Ashley left behind, to some of the most exciting talent in Europe. Our squad feels like one that's hit the Champions League a few seasons too early, but it's up to us to get that sorted. Firstly, we have some key areas we need to look at:

• A long-term GK replacement that can use his feet
• A new first-team left back, Hall is still too raw and we need someone now if Targett starts poorly
• A striker, or two to help compete with Isak long-term and to cover us in a long season
• A long-term replacement for Schar at Right CB sooner rather than later
• Competition for Almiron on the right side

Join us in Part 2 where we finally press the progress day button.